San Galgano

The Cistercians built the monastery in the middle of the 13th century and dedicated it to St Galganus, a local saint, who had died in 1181. At the height of its power, the monastery commanded enormous respect and influence in the area between Siena and Volterra.

However, in time San Galgano fell slowly into decline, which accelerated in the 16th century when the abbot sold off the lead in the church roof.

Nearby, on the hill of Monte Siepi, is the circular Chapel of St Galganus, who is buried here.

The chapel was built in 1182 the year after the saint's death and its construction, in alternating rings of brick and travertine, is without precedent.

The chapel is also unique in what it contains, namely its very own sword in the stone. Legend has it that Galgano Guidotti was found dead on his knees in front of this very sword. He was thirty three years of age.

Many claim that this was the inspiration for the Arthurian legend and Excalibur.

The adjoining chapel was frescoed in the 1340s by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and assistants.

Monte Oliveto Maggiore (09.15-12.00 and 15.15-17.00)

To the south-east of Siena, hidden away in an unusual landscape known as the Creti Senesi, , (a grey, clayey soil, which time has carved into the strangest formations) is the Benedictine monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore.

The monastery was founded in 1313 by Giovanni Tolomei, a wealthy figure from Siena, who, with a group of his friends, established the Olivetan Order, a branch of the Benedictines.

The abbey is most famous for its beautifully preserved cycle of frescoes, which were painted by Signorelli and Il Sodoma between 1497 and 1502.

The frescoes depict details from the life of Saint Benedict and were started by the Umbrian painter, Luca Signorelli, in 1497. But a year later the artist received a better commission in Orvieto and simply upped and left. Into the breach stepped one of the Renaissance's most eccentric painters, Antonio Bazzi, who arrived in the company of his pet menagerie. 

On account of his alleged, but entirely undocumented sexual preferences, Bazzi has been known for half a millennium as Il Sodoma or the sodomite.

While his sexual tastes remain a mystery, his quirky behaviour does not, as the monks soon discovered when the painter turned up for work.

His unconventional sense of dress and the bizarre miscellany of animals he kept in his living quarters, led the monks to give him a nickname of their own, 'Il Mattaccio', the maniac or madman. 

For more information about one of the most colourful characters in the history of art, visit: Il Sodoma

A short distance away from Monte Oliveto Maggiore lies Sant' Anna in Camprena, which was once also an Olivetan monastery, but which is now an Agriturismo. More frescoes by Il Sodoma may be viewed here.

The artist arrived in 1503 to decorate the refectory. He was only twenty-five years old and this was his first major commission.

Pienza.

On a low hill in the celebrated landscape of the Val D'Orcia, (which, in 2004, was declared a World Heritage site), sits the tiny city of Pienza (also a World heritage site), a rare example of Renaissance town planning.

In 1458, Siena's very own bishop, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, achieved the highest office in the catholic church when he became Pope Pius II.

The new Pope lost no time in commissioning Bernardo Rossellino to transform the place of his birth, the medieval village of Corbignano, (which his family actually owned), into a modern Renaissance city.

In the space of five years Rossellino had created a monumental piazza, around which he arranged the Cathedral and several grand palaces. The grandest, needles to say, belonged to the Piccolomini family.

In 1464 Pope Pius II died, but the Palazzo Piccolomini was finished by his nephew, who, in 1503, became Pope Pius III. The shock of becoming Pope seems to have been too much for him, for within a month of being elected he was dead!

The Piccolomini family continued to live in the palace,which is open to the public, until the 1960s.

At the rear of the palace, overlooking the Val D'Orcia, is a beautiful hanging garden.

From the outside, Pienza's cathedral looks like any other 15th century Renaissance building. But when you step inside you are in for a surprise, for the nave and aisles are of the same height, a characteristic common in German churches, but very rare in Italy. The Pope had spent time in Germany and, it seems, had grown fond of this feature.

The light filled interior has been preserved just as Rossellino designed it.

La Foce

In an isolated position to the south-east of Pienza and close to the border with Umbria stands La Foce, the Villa and Gardens of the Origo family.

Iris Origo, the Anglo-Irish-American author of 'The Merchant of Prato' and 'Images and Shadows', amongst other books, bought the property and its extensive estate with her husband, Antonio, in 1923.

The newly married couple employed the English architect and garden designer, Cecil Ross Pinsent, to transform the ancient house and its garden into the delightful ensemble we see today.

In his design of the garden, Pinsent brought a little bit of England to Tuscany.